The O.C.’s Traditional Jewelers to Open 10,000-Square-Foot Store

The store, which has inhabited a 4,000-square-foot space in the outdoor mall for the past 20 years, will debut a 10,000-square-foot flagship across from Neiman Marcus and Bloomingdale’s July 11.

The new unit, which coincides with a total rebranding of the company’s look and signage, will include four shop-in-shops, codesigned by Rolex, Patek Philippe, Cartier, and Officine Panerai, respectively. Vintage pieces from the Fred Leighton estate collection will also get their own display.

Stephen Webster ring, available at Traditional Jewelers

Traditional Jewelers launched in 1979 but was bought in 2012 by Denver-based Hyde Park Jewelers, which operates seven (mostly multi-brand) boutiques across the country.

Hyde Park CEO Michael Pollak acknowledges that the store’s mammoth footprint is atypical, but says, “Orange County…is one of the wealthiest enclaves in the U.S. There’s a lot of affinity for luxury brands.” (That’s certainly true—the largest Mercedes-Benz dealership in the world is in Newport Beach.)

“We felt it was an opportunity to leverage and establish the [Traditional] name and polish it up and update the branding of the store—and give the various brands we carry the visibility they deserve.”

The company has yet to release photos of the store, but Pollak calls its decor “California cool–meets–Art Deco.” Gray and silver dominate the color palette, and stainless-steel accents pepper the store.

Rolex’s shop-in-shop has its own entrance, but it is also accessible from the main store floor. “We really wanted to make sure we could achieve a cohesive brand experience for Traditional Jewelers— even though we’re a multi-brand store.”

To that end, 25 to 30 percent of the store’s merchandise will be curated, private label pieces, manufactured in-house or bought from wholesalers primarily based in Europe.

Hyde Park has appointed a new general manager for the store, Bill Peters, who knows the upscale O.C. shopper intimately—he spent 14 years in senior positions at the Louis Vuitton boutique at nearby South Coast Plaza.